Winning and Losing
by Blitzk
Summary: I've always thought the ending to the Hunger Games was a bit corny, so I changed the ending. Rated T for some violence in the beginning.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Since I just recently finished my first story (YAY!), I thought I was going to take a bit of a break. But...this idea popped into my head and I had to write it. This will probably only be two chapters.**

I've always felt like the ending of the Hunger Games was a bit cheesy and corny. I decided to change it a bit. Starts from when Katniss, Peeta, and Cato are fighting on the cornucopia.

The sounds of the mutant dogs continued to hit my ears as I stood with my bow drawn. I felt my right hand twitch a bit by my cheek, I was pulling the string back a bit further than I usually did. Cato looked down at me and smirked, tightening his grip around Peeta's neck.

It was a Mexican stand-off. If he killed Peeta, I'd kill him. And if I killed him, Peeta would die. No one talked, no one moved. What was only a few seconds felt like hours as I tried to think of a way out of this situation. Then I saw him adjust his grip a bit, which gave me an idea.

I turned so my arrow was aimed at his hand rather than his forehead, but a horrible cracking sound echoed through the arena before I could release. With one swift motion, Cato had snapped Peeta's neck, and now his head hung limply to the said, his blank.

A wild mix of emotions - anger, sadness, hatred, devastation - overcame me all at once as I switched aim once again and sent my arrow straight at Cato's forehead. But Cato, who must've thought ahead, brought Peeta's body in front of his. My arrow hit Peeta square in the chest, protecting Cato.

As soon as he realized his plan had worked, he tossed Peeta's corpse aside and charged me. I pulled another arrow out and loaded it but by the time I had the string drawn back he had reached me. I quickly fired and my arrow stuck in his shoulder, but that didn't seem to slow him much. He swung his arm at me and knocked me to the side. I lifted myself back to my feet as he took a second to pull the arrow at of his shoulder. He charged me again but kept the arrow. He raised his arm, preparing to stab me with the arrow, but I swung my bow at him, knocking the arrow out of his hand and making him wince a little.

He turned back to me and swung his fist powerfully. I put my bow in front of me as my only show of defense and his fist went in between the string and the metal. I had stepped back a bit, causing his swing to come short of hitting me, but then I saw the opportunity I had. Before he could pull his hand out of my bow, I violently pulled it to the side. The bow caught his wrist and tugged him with it. He seemed surprised by the sudden tug and lost his balance a bit as he stumbled to the side. I used the bow and swung it as his head, the metal impacting into his right temple. He seemed a bit daze and clenched the side of his head in pain. I dropped the bow and grabbed the arrow he had dropped earlier. As he finally began to regain focus, I slammed the arrow into the side of his neck. He cried in pain as blood spurred from his neck and he fell over the side of the cornucopia. The dogs below began to tear into him, but the gash in his neck was deep enough to kill him quickly.

The cannon fired twice to signal the deaths of Peeta and Cato. Oh God, Peeta. I turned to face him and saw that his eyes were returning my stare. I couldn't bear the sight of him, and tears started to form in my eyes. I wanted to look away, but...but I couldn't. I just couldn't keep from staring at him, and it wasn't helping stop the flow of tears. Not wanting to have to look at him, I lightly kicked his body, sending it over the edge.

The sight of his body was horrible, but then I realized that the sound of the dogs eating into him was even worse. I sat down on the top of the cornucopia and covered my ears to avoid hearing the sound of Peeta being torn apart.

The dark sky disappeared and was replaced by the sight of morning. Something was announced by I had my hands clapped over my ears so tightly I couldn't make out what the announcement said, but the sound of a hovercraft was too powerful for even my ears to block out. I looked up and removed my hands from my ears. The sound of dogs was gone, and the hovercraft was slowly lowering down towards me.

I was a Victor...but Peeta was dead. I'd won and lost all at the same time.

**A/N: Blehhh...that last paragraph...**

**I thought the rest of it was okay though. Not my best, but pretty good. Thoughts? Reviews are appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm not really liking this story, so I'll probably wrap it up with this chapter and move on to another story I just got the idea to do (and I think it'll be a lot better).**

This chapter sort of just deals with the aftermath and the psychological affect it's having on Katniss. Some parts are sad. Some parts are happy.

I tried to enjoy the post-Game celebrations. I really did. But I just felt sad. When I was crowned Victor, I tried to make myself feel something positive. Happiness, pride, joy. Any of those would've worked. But I couldn't seem to keep myself from feeling sad for more than a few minutes. And it was because of Peeta. Killing people I didn't know hadn't been hard. But seeing people you cared about die? That sucked. It was bad enough when that District One kid killed Rue. But to have Peeta die in front of my eyes was heart wrenching. I didn't know if I had loved him or not, but I must've at least liked him a whole lot, otherwise I wouldn't be feeling like this.

"I just need to step back and analyze things, figure out how to get over it," I told myself on the train ride back to District Twelve. Peeta was dead. There was nothing I could do about it now. Had I loved him? Maybe. But that doesn't matter anymore. He's gone. It doesn't matter if I loved him. I needed to forget about it. I can't change the past. What had happened, happened. Nothing was going to bring Peeta back. I tried my best to commit myself to this resolve. He's gone, but I'm still here. I have to move past this. "I will move past this..." I said aloud.

There were things to look forward to I guess. The whole reason I had volunteered was to save Prim. And I'd get to see her again. Just the thought of her suddenly made me happy. She was alive! I'd get to see her again! She asked me to try to win and I had! She wasn't going to lose her older sister. I was going to see Gale again too! Things could return to normal, as if nothing ever happened.

But something had happened. I couldn't just pretend it hadn't. And then I felt sad again. Just pushing the thought away and saying it wasn't important was wrong. At least, it felt wrong. How could I just forget about Peeta like he didn't even exist? I couldn't. But then how do I move on?...

I have to move on. I have to acknowledge what happened, but I couldn't let it pull me down. I just need to remember what's ahead at the same time. I had my family, Gale, and I was rich. The rest of my life could be great if I let it. I can't forget about Peeta, but I can't let the memory of him keep me from living my life.

Life was good. I had my little sister, my best friend, and a mother who was finally beginning to come back to life. I didn't want to end up like her when my dad died, and I hadn't. Thoughts of what had happened would sometimes come to. But I would always snap out of it by thinking ahead. Peeta would want this for me. He'd want me to move on. He'd want me to be happy. And back home in District Twelve, I was.

**A/N: Yeah, this sucked...Oh well. I've got something else to start writing that I think I'll actually like. Reviews?**


End file.
